Variety

March 4, 2005
HIGH SCHOOL RECORD
By SCOTT FOUNDAS

In Ben Wolfinsohn's "High School Record," student frustrations are offered neither as slapstick fodder (a la "American Pie") nor as cause for alarm ("Elephant"), but simply as an entry point into an easily recognizable moment of youth -- a time of (relatively) more innocence and of feeling deeply uncomfortable in one's own skin.
Working from a semi-improvised script and with a cast of nonprofessional actors (most of them Los Angeles punk musicians), Wolfinsohn fashions a movie of uncommon feeling and authenticity that, despite its minuscule budget and lack of MTV-friendly faces, could generate a word of mouth cult following like Wolfinsohn's 2002 music docu, "Friends Forever."
Though amateurs, cast members are anything but amateurish, giving vivid life to a host of memorable characters who don't easily fit into the usual high school movie stereotypes.
Shot in low-grade digital video and shown digitally at Sundance, pic's image and sound are intentionally rough-hewn, further adding to the sense that the film is in fact a found object, a time capsule unearthed.